GDT: Rags @ Devils 7:00 PM MSG+2 , MSG

[Devs64]

10 minutes ago, titans04 said:

Don't worry we have Bahls. 

Hope Bahl has the ballz

[slasher72]

I seriously cant imagine Fitz could be so blind as to rehire anyone on this staff. I mean, if he does then next season will be a wash too and we'll officially be a joke of a franchise. 

[MadDog2020]

12 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

If our owners really want to show they’re serious about winning they should go out and throw a bag at that guy. 

My worry is that our owners are, in fact, not serious about winning. 

[mfitz804]

18 minutes ago, slasher72 said:

We need to draft a Tom Wilson or two. 

Here’s Marty drafting Tom Wilson. Classic scene. 

 

[slasher72]

This is the kind of attitude we need in the locker room. Get someone with a mean streak dammit! 

[mfitz804]

2 minutes ago, slasher72 said:

This is the kind of attitude we need in the locker room. Get someone with a mean streak dammit! 

Yo is that Geertsen getting a guitar to the head?? Lol

[mfitz804]

4 hours ago, devlman said:

I would love, with Jack out, for the Devils’ coaching staff to institute a boring, defensive game. Can we play a 2-1 game for once? It’s been forever. Let the kids learn to prioritize defense playing in front of a competent goalie so they can see the benefits.

Without the Sharangovich penalty it would’ve happened. Wrong way around but still. 

[titans04]

I love Torts but I don't think he would be a great fit for this reason. The guy for the most part doesn't care what the nameplate says and has no problem trying to break what he perceives as bad habits by sitting guys at the end of the bench. While I'm sure he would appreciate the talent and potential a guy like Jack for example has shown he wouldn't tolerate the careless with the puck at times. I think he could have a real problem with it actually. There's no middle ground with the guy. I love his passion, I love the fact that he would have a huge issue with how baby sh!t soft this team is, it would drive him insane and he would instill his will and some players would despise him in record time. I'm just not sure guys our core three up front have the stomach for it, including our capt. Torts is the polar opposite of what we have now, which makes him sound great but right below the surface is most assuredly conflicts I'm not sure our very little core can handle. 

As for the guy from Europe, he too by default is an upgrade (who isn't) but I don't know enough about him.  Kind of like going off the board though imo. You can probably get a guy with NHL experience who actually still has a pulse unlike they did with the current corpse or give Dineen a shot. In the end it's shaping up to be another restart with some pretty big unknowns on many fronts again going into next season. 

Edited April 6, 2022 by titans04

[Derek21]

2 hours ago, mfitz804 said:

He did have that one good takeaway which the then ran into the end boards and did nothing with. I noticed that while laughing about how bad he was. 

Lol obviously. 

He was around the puck. He was close to getting one off that takeaway. But lost balance after getting hooked by Hischier. Laffy will be good. That I have no doubt about. Second in five-on-five goals behind Kreider. He's a very mature kid. 

Why didn't Sharangovich return? It didn't look like he got hurt in the scrap. I don't understand challenging Schneider on a good hit. Not much else happened. It lacked emotion. 

Devils should call up Holtz. But the AHL is still going. 

[Derek21]

1 hour ago, titans04 said:

I love Torts but I don't think he would be a great fit for this reason. The guy for the most part doesn't care what the nameplate says and has no problem trying to break what he perceives as bad habits by sitting guys at the end of the bench. While I'm sure he would appreciate the talent and potential a guy like Jack for example has shown he wouldn't tolerate the careless with the puck at times. I think he could have a real problem with it actually. There's no middle ground with the guy. I love his passion, I love the fact that he would have a huge issue with how baby sh!t soft this team is, it would drive him insane and he would instill his will and some players would despise him in record time. I'm just not sure guys our core three up front have the stomach for it, including our capt. Torts is the polar opposite of what we have now, which makes him sound great but right below the surface is most assuredly conflicts I'm not sure our very little core can handle. 

As for the guy from Europe, he too by default is an upgrade (who isn't) but I don't know enough about him.  Kind of like going off the board though imo. You can probably get a guy with NHL experience who actually still has a pulse unlike they did with the current corpse or give Dineen a shot. In the end it's shaping up to be another restart with some pretty big unknowns on many fronts again going into next season. 

I wouldn't hire Torts got the reason you gave. He'll teach discipline and defense. But stunt creativity. I don't see him getting another job. Definitely miss his postgames.

2 hours ago, Nicomo said:

Hurt I guess. It’s just funny to me that Laf and Jack had the same # of SOG in this game. 

Fractured hand. No idea how. I'm not even sure where they should put him.

[RunninWithTheDevil]

2 hours ago, mfitz804 said:

Here’s Marty drafting Tom Wilson. Classic scene. 

 

This right here is the pinnacle of mfitz comedy. Brilliant. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Was there and this game went right about as I expected it to.  Jack has clearly become this team’s best player and not having him is simply a killer right now…especially for a team that’s pretty much a lock to give up at least three goals every game.

I still would’ve made the Hammond deal…it was an obvious “Throw it against the wall and hope it sticks” move, and it didn’t stick…oh well.  Hard to believe an NHL team has Daws, Gillies, and Hammond to choose from, but that’s how it goes when a lot of sh!t goes wrong.

Gonna be a brutal month…all the sh!t we’re complaining about on a daily basis will be fully on display, without Hughes in the lineup, who actually made all of the crap more tolerable.  So more well-below average goaltending and The Moron Trio bringing absolutely nothing to the plate.  Curious to see if any of them get another job on an NHL coaching staff…I’m at a complete loss as to why anyone would hire them.  

[mfitz804]

6 hours ago, Derek21 said:

Why didn't Sharangovich return? It didn't look like he got hurt in the scrap. 

He had an enormous bruise/welt in the center of his forehead, so he definitely was hurt. Could be a concussion. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

14 hours ago, Satans Hockey said:

I'm still not a fan, find them more boring and a missed opportunity than downright ugly. 

I'll never be able to get past the script "Jersey".  That just kills it for me.  The rest I find tolerable.

[mfitz804]

Not gonna lie, they've grown on me. I would prefer to see them 3-4 times a year rather than as frequently as they are wearing them. 

Clearly a black alternate could have been done way better, we have discussed that no end. I don't know why I wound up liking it, but I did. 

I bought one, still debating who will be on it. Was leaning towards Hamilton, but have soured on him at the moment so I'll pass on that. 

Could be Daws, or maybe I just go ahead and get Jack on there since we wore them during his breakout (half) season. 

Waiting until the weather is too warm to wear it before sending it to EPS, as is my usual tactic. 

[DevsMan84]

12 hours ago, Satans Hockey said:

 

It's 13 because Nico wears 13, so stupid. 

Actually 14 now.  They wore them in a game a month or two ago that they were not scheduled to wear them in.

I believe the rule is that a team has to wear them 12-15 times a season.

[mfitz804]

1 minute ago, DevsMan84 said:

Actually 14 now.  They wore them in a game a month or two ago that they were not scheduled to wear them in.

I believe the rule is that a team has to wear them 12-15 times a season.

Stupid rule. Who cares how many times a team wears each jersey? Why does this rule need to exist? 

Would be simple enough to say that teams get a home, road and 3rd and can wear their 3rd only at home (since they aren't typically white) or on the road if the other team agrees. 

[DevsMan84]

34 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

I'll never be able to get past the script "Jersey".  That just kills it for me.  The rest I find tolerable.

I am the opposite.  The Jersey script part has grown on me a little bit.  The rest of the jersey being a Blackhawks WC knockoff is what kills it for me.

3 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

Stupid rule. Who cares how many times a team wears each jersey? Why does this rule need to exist? 

Would be simple enough to say that teams get a home, road and 3rd and can wear their 3rd only at home (since they aren't typically white) or on the road if the other team agrees. 

I think because the jersey maker also has a hand in helping and designing the jersey.  I guess the NHL wants to make sure that if they have a partner spending resources that they stick to it for a bit rather than pulling it back immediately due to negative fan reaction

[MadDog2020]

1 minute ago, DevsMan84 said:

I am the opposite.  The Jersey script part has grown on me a little bit.  The rest of the jersey being a Blackhawks WC knockoff is what kills it for me.

It appears we are stuck with them, seeing as their popularity continues to be rising. 

[DevsMan84]

As for the game itself, what a lousy week for the Devils.

I know I am absolutely known as being a big pessimist around here, but I really do not have a lot of faith in the ship being righted next season.  Here are reasons why:

1) Fitz seems out to lunch lately and looks like deer in headlights.  At his deadline "presser" he even was surprised when it was brought to him that Hammond was injured when he traded for him.  I know we gave up relatively little for him, but that is just baffling to me that a GM doesn't even know the health status of the guy he traded for.  This goes especially so when he was rumored to be interested in Tarasenko in the offseason but didn't pull the trigger due to health concerns.  Also, his claims that he believes this team can compete with the best teams in the league at the moment.  Sorry, but no and this week showed them that is not the case.

2) Based on Fitz's proclamations, I really wonder how much of his decisions are being influenced by their analytics department.  Given how much the ownership has spent on it and what Fitz has said about the team, I am thinking quite a bit.  This is an issue.  This is the same analytics department who was gloating to Shayna in a recent article about how the Devils have something like the 10th best expected goals since Christmas.  This is while the team is currently in the bottom 4 of the entire league.  If this is what Fitz and ownership is listening to and expecting different/better outcomes we are in trouble.

3) Asset management.  I do believe the team is still under an internal cap.  Why is it that at the same day that Hamilton was signed that we traded Butcher to Buffalo for nothing?  Not only that, but we also threw in a 5th rounder to Buffalo to take them!  This is even with a team that has a sh!t-ton of cap space even with Hughes, Hischier and Hamilton signed.  Why this has been swept under the rug by the team-employed reporters and the team themselves is very odd.  We also put Wedgewood on waivers where we lost him for nothing (I don't think much of him but he is absolutely better than Gillies and Hammond) and we also lost Studenic in waivers for nothing (now playing on the top line in Dallas as of last night).  So what's going on here?

4) The nightmare scenario: The same coaching staff returns.  I am pretty much convinced at best only Recchi gets fired.  I think Nass and Ruff are here to stay by opening night next season.  It seems ownership doesn't want to spend on a replacement coach as that would mean paying the new guy and Ruff at the same time.  Also, Fitz is already priming and I think has given the excuse that goaltending is the sole reason why the season went awry.  Yeah goaltending def hurt a lot, but there are issues up and down the entire roster that needs fixing and Ruff and Co. are not going to help one bit, especially with an anemic PP and a defense corps that seems to have players regress under Nass.

[2ELIAS6]

2 hours ago, mfitz804 said:

He had an enormous bruise/welt in the center of his forehead, so he definitely was hurt. Could be a concussion. 

That’s what I was thinking, poor kid got his sh!t pushed in. 

[mfitz804]

11 minutes ago, DevsMan84 said:

Also, Fitz is already priming and I think has given the excuse that goaltending is the sole reason why the season went awry.  Yeah goaltending def hurt a lot, but there are issues up and down the entire roster that needs fixing and Ruff and Co. are not going to help one bit, especially with an anemic PP and a defense corps that seems to have players regress under Nass.

This is very true. And even though we've been scoring, looking at last night's lineup was truly gross. At least 5 guys I don't think are NHL players, either they belong in the AHL or just gone. Tatar, Zacha, Boqvist, McLeod, Johnsson, that's a lot of roster spots taken up bu guys who really don't bring much to the table. I would add Vesey to that list, he has been fine in his role and if we had a well filled out roster we could deal with having a role player like that. But we don't. 

Defense should really be better than it is. PK will be gone, Severson has his moments but sort of makes up for them with his offense, and the rest are underperforming in my opinion. This is a glaring coaching issue that the team seems not to recognize. 

Goaltending, well you know its bad when you are wishing you had Scott Wedgewood back. 

[mfitz804]

7 minutes ago, 2ELIAS6 said:

That’s what I was thinking, poor kid got his sh!t pushed in. 

Definitely took some damage. Stupid idea by him, clearly he is not a fighter by any means, not to mention that the hit was completely clean. Boqvist got wrecked, for sure, I haven't seen one of our guys get quite that much air this season lol. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

4 minutes ago, MadDog2020 said:

It appears we are stuck with them, seeing as their popularity continues to be rising. 

Yeah I mean I brought it up before but a LOT of fans are wearing these...far FAR more than I ever would've or could've expected.  

Overall I still find them a mixed bag.  They're pretty clean-looking and have a crisp throwback/classic vibe to them...largely looks like something that would've been worn in the 50s.  I'd go so far to say that I actually kind of like them from behind.  But every time that I see the black-and-white Devils logo on the scoreboard during games when these jerseys are worn, all I can think is how much better they'd look if the "Jersey" crest was swapped out for that.

4 minutes ago, DevsMan84 said:

As for the game itself, what a lousy week for the Devils.

I know I am absolutely known as being a big pessimist around here, but I really do not have a lot of faith in the ship being righted next season.  Here are reasons why:

1) Fitz seems out to lunch lately and looks like deer in headlights.  At his deadline "presser" he even was surprised when it was brought to him that Hammond was injured when he traded for him.  I know we gave up relatively little for him, but that is just baffling to me that a GM doesn't even know the health status of the guy he traded for.  This goes especially so when he was rumored to be interested in Tarasenko in the offseason but didn't pull the trigger due to health concerns.  Also, his claims that he believes this team can compete with the best teams in the league at the moment.  Sorry, but no and this week showed them that is not the case.

2) Based on Fitz's proclamations, I really wonder how much of his decisions are being influenced by their analytics department.  Given how much the ownership has spent on it and what Fitz has said about the team, I am thinking quite a bit.  This is an issue.  This is the same analytics department who was gloating to Shayna in a recent article about how the Devils have something like the 10th best expected goals since Christmas.  This is while the team is currently in the bottom 4 of the entire league.  If this is what Fitz and ownership is listening to and expecting different/better outcomes we are in trouble.

3) Asset management.  I do believe the team is still under an internal cap.  Why is it that at the same day that Hamilton was signed that we traded Butcher to Buffalo for nothing?  Not only that, but we also threw in a 5th rounder to Buffalo to take them!  This is even with a team that has a sh!t-ton of cap space even with Hughes, Hischier and Hamilton signed.  Why this has been swept under the rug by the team-employed reporters and the team themselves is very odd.  We also put Wedgewood on waivers where we lost him for nothing (I don't think much of him but he is absolutely better than Gillies and Hammond) and we also lost Studenic in waivers for nothing (now playing on the top line in Dallas as of last night).  So what's going on here?

4) The nightmare scenario: The same coaching staff returns.  I am pretty much convinced at best only Recchi gets fired.  I think Nass and Ruff are here to stay by opening night next season.  It seems ownership doesn't want to spend on a replacement coach as that would mean paying the new guy and Ruff at the same time.  Also, Fitz is already priming and I think has given the excuse that goaltending is the sole reason why the season went awry.  Yeah goaltending def hurt a lot, but there are issues up and down the entire roster that needs fixing and Ruff and Co. are not going to help one bit, especially with an anemic PP and a defense corps that seems to have players regress under Nass.

Right now nothing is going to change between now and the rest of the season (and Hughes being done is only going to make things worse), so I for one am going to stop harping on the same things (not saying you're doing anything wrong, just that I've been as broken record as anyone else about the issues and the franchise won't be addressing them until later).

But to address each point:

1) Yeah, not a good look.  It's one thing for players and even coaches to be worn down by a difficult season.  That's not supposed to happen with a GM; I can't give him a pass for not having done enough due diligence re:  Hammond.  This team has shown signs of being competitive with top teams and games like the Boston massacre have not been commonplace lately, but there's still PLENTY of work to be done, and we know what needs to be addressed.

2) Devils can score (especially when Hughes is playing)...that we know...I don't need analytics to tell me that.  But we also know that even with good goaltending, the "system" (or whatever passes for one) gives up prime chances and leaves players uncovered CONSTANTLY.  What does the analytics department have to say about THAT?  Expected goals against?

3) I don't think there's an internal cap.  Butcher was traded because he's bad, no longer fit in here, and no one wanted him at his cap hit...the team just wanted him gone.  Yeah would've been nice to have gotten something back, and Buffalo did a decent job saying "OK, we'll take him off your hands, but we'll need more than just the player to do it."  Yeah wasn't great to lose Wedge for nothing, but not like having him over Gillies and Hammond would made THAT much of a difference, especially given the open looks opposing players get.  Studenic has 2 points in 8 GP in Dallas...I'll be surprised if we're really lamenting having lost him in the years to come...he's a former 2017 5th-round pick who's played all of 33 games in the NHL to date and will be 24 next season.  Not saying Fitz has been flawless in transactions like this, just that I don't think the guys he lost are going to find sustained success elsewhere.  Guys like that just kinda bounce around.

4) This can't happen.  End of story.  They're not the answer.  Wasn't Ruff only on a two-year deal?  If so, that would mean extending him.  And if that happens, then I am 100% done with Fitz.  And I'll be wondering what the hell ownership is thinking.

To sum up:  this offseason is absolutely THE crossroads moment for the Devils.  Depending on what direction they go, we'll know once and for all how this franchise wants to do business.       

[mfitz804]

Just now, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

I'd go so far to say that I actually kind of like them from behind. 

Just gonna leave this right here...