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Your New Jersey Devils Regular Season Thread: 2022-2023 Edition


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1 minute ago, mfitz804 said:

Do I strike you as someone who is behavior is representative of having seeing a therapist? Lol.

I’m not the one who was trying to say perennial and instead talked about someone’s taint lol.

Like you said though, fitting for a post about the Rags. 

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1 hour ago, Nicomo said:

And Jack Hughes has 5 more points than Laf and Kakko combined. The Rags continue to not be able to develop their young prospects very well. If they couldn’t buy their roster through free agency they would be perennial bottom feeders. 

And of course part of the problem with building your teams that way is that you both get top-heavy quickly and wind up paying top dollar for some decline years.  That means smaller windows to try to win a Cup.  Not to mention that high-priced UFAs don’t always seamlessly blend (or produce) with their new teams.

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976
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1 hour ago, Nicomo said:

And Jack Hughes has 5 more points than Laf and Kakko combined. The Rags continue to not be able to develop their young prospects very well. If they couldn’t buy their roster through free agency they would be perennial bottom feeders. 

I honestly don’t follow anything about the Rangers, but all I kept hearing was how improved those two looked, and then I heard nothing. It’s clear why I stopped hearing anything. 

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3 minutes ago, SterioDesign said:

not sure if it was posted already but might as well get a few more wins and beat the record?

https://www.nhl.com/news/longest-winning-streaks-by-nhl-franchises/c-285403472

only 7 teams in NHL history did better than 12. and one of them was us in 2001

I don’t see how we could not, with a purple bar on our side. 

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3 hours ago, Nicomo said:

The Bruins and VGK are down right around us, and I seriously doubt anyone is trying to downplay where they are in the standings. Let alone a dominating 12 game winning streak.

Also, pretty sure the idea is that you’re SUPPOSED to beat the “weaker” teams.  And yeah, regardless of level of competition, not like NHL teams are constantly rattling off 12-game winning streaks…also fair to point out that some of those opponents are likely to finish with better records (and rankings) than they’re currently on pace for.

And yeah part of the reason Calgary’s had a “tougher” schedule is because they’ve played the Devils twice, heh heh…hell, every one of the top seven “Hardest Schedule to Date” squads has played the Devils at least once…that helps to factor into those teams’ average opposition ranking.  It’s funny, it’s almost like the Devils are being docked points for now because they can’t play against themselves.

Bad teams beat good teams all the time, during the course of any given regular season…even the worst teams are usually good for 25-30 wins…but right now the Devils are simply just beating everyone.  Yes, they will eventually hit a rough patch the way that all teams do, but I’m definitely not going to dig for reasons not to feel good about the Devils being on a 12-game bender.  This is too small of a sample size anyway…if, say, by the end of the season the Devils have fattened up on a lot of also-rans but been meh against the top-end teams, then yeah, I’ll wonder more about how legit they are in 2022-23.  But I need a lot more than 17 games before I do any serious wondering.

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976
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10 hours ago, SterioDesign said:

Well this run is fun but lets keep this in mind i guess

image.thumb.png.16b641653147673a9c2868df37269cee.png

All of those other teams have to play the Devils, of course their schedule seems stronger.

Jokes aside, there is some truth to the fact that the Devils' schedule hasn't been the strongest. But at the same time, many of us have acknowledged that this win streak is not sustainable. The wins won't be as easy next month, when there are games against teams like Florida, Carolina, and Boston (although they haven't been a tough opponent in recent years IIRC). It's also important to note that the losses haven't come against the strongest teams on our schedule. It would be one thing if we were winning against Arizona, Anaheim, and Columbus, but losing to Colorado, a desperate Calgary team, and Toronto. But the losses have come against mid-tier teams.

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12 minutes ago, nessus said:

All of those other teams have to play the Devils, of course their schedule seems stronger.

Jokes aside, there is some truth to the fact that the Devils' schedule hasn't been the strongest. But at the same time, many of us have acknowledged that this win streak is not sustainable. The wins won't be as easy next month, when there are games against teams like Florida, Carolina, and Boston (although they haven't been a tough opponent in recent years IIRC). It's also important to note that the losses haven't come against the strongest teams on our schedule. It would be one thing if we were winning against Arizona, Anaheim, and Columbus, but losing to Colorado, a desperate Calgary team, and Toronto. But the losses have come against mid-tier teams.

No one in their right minds thinks the Devils will finish the season with an .833 point%…hell, 104 points would give the Devils a .634 point% for the year.  I’d sign up for that.  

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6 hours ago, nessus said:

All of those other teams have to play the Devils, of course their schedule seems stronger.

Jokes aside, there is some truth to the fact that the Devils' schedule hasn't been the strongest. But at the same time, many of us have acknowledged that this win streak is not sustainable. The wins won't be as easy next month, when there are games against teams like Florida, Carolina, and Boston (although they haven't been a tough opponent in recent years IIRC). It's also important to note that the losses haven't come against the strongest teams on our schedule. It would be one thing if we were winning against Arizona, Anaheim, and Columbus, but losing to Colorado, a desperate Calgary team, and Toronto. But the losses have come against mid-tier teams.

Yeah i mean. i didn't post this to minimize our success or wtv. Clearly some people took it that way. The team battled, came back when they had to, everything. We deserved those wins

But it's just pointing out a fact that the schedule will get harder as the season always get harder. after christmas its a different gear and playoffs is another one. We still have a young team so we need to keep that in mind as the game gets tighter through the season. But having the team coming in that 2nd half with a lot of confidence is truly ideal.

But also days ago i was talking with a fellow Devils fans and i was mentionning that it'd be great if the Bruins would lose a game or 2. just so that we could sit at the top of the league even if its just for a day lol and his response was... "well the bruins have a crazy easy schedule its ridiculous". And.... well typically lol when those "stats" come out, just like anything. If they support the narrative you want, you'll use them and if they don't you'll push them under the rug. haha if the Rangers were at the top of the league and this graphic came up. Most of us would 200% point it out, let's admit that lol 

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Not sure if this was mentioned here or not, but I was listening to 32 thoughts "Out of Gas, but Not Ideas" and around 8-9min they are talking about Vancouver trying to hire Brunette and said that Rutherford may have been talking to Brunette about it as recently as training camp. It has me a little worried. Fridge said that something happening mid-season would be highly unlikely, and he sounded like he was somewhat sure there is prob something contractual that would probably hinder it, but I do wonder what NJ plans to do there if Van does try to steal him in the summer. Fridge seemed to think summer would be a different story.

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30 minutes ago, NJDevils1214 said:

Not sure if this was mentioned here or not, but I was listening to 32 thoughts "Out of Gas, but Not Ideas" and around 8-9min they are talking about Vancouver trying to hire Brunette and said that Rutherford may have been talking to Brunette about it as recently as training camp. It has me a little worried. Fridge said that something happening mid-season would be highly unlikely, and he sounded like he was somewhat sure there is prob something contractual that would probably hinder it, but I do wonder what NJ plans to do there if Van does try to steal him in the summer. Fridge seemed to think summer would be a different story.

My hopes are theres an understanding that Brunnette is taking over after this season. I don’t know how long Lindy plans on coaching and as much as we were wrong about Lindy, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the team improved so much after the new coaching staff came in. I wouldn’t want a young talented coach like Brunnette getting away to hold onto Lindy for a year or so. 

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3 minutes ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

My hopes are theres an understanding that Brunnette is taking over after this season. I don’t know how long Lindy plans on coaching and as much as we were wrong about Lindy, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the team improved so much after the new coaching staff came in. I wouldn’t want a young talented coach like Brunnette getting away to hold onto Lindy for a year or so. 

I feel like even his title of “associate coach” implies that’s the case. 

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1 hour ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

My hopes are theres an understanding that Brunnette is taking over after this season. I don’t know how long Lindy plans on coaching and as much as we were wrong about Lindy, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the team improved so much after the new coaching staff came in. I wouldn’t want a young talented coach like Brunnette getting away to hold onto Lindy for a year or so. 

I don’t think we were totally wrong about Lindy…I think if anything, he’s shown he’s as good as his assistants at this point.  I suspect Brunette is already handing a lot of head coaching duties, with Lindy not put to out to pasture by any stretch, but also not getting in the way.  

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1 minute ago, mfitz804 said:

I don’t get it, what about his hat?

Well, besides HFC...

Purple heh heh

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19 hours ago, SterioDesign said:

Yeah i mean. i didn't post this to minimize our success or wtv. Clearly some people took it that way. The team battled, came back when they had to, everything. We deserved those wins

But it's just pointing out a fact that the schedule will get harder as the season always get harder. after christmas its a different gear and playoffs is another one. We still have a young team so we need to keep that in mind as the game gets tighter through the season. But having the team coming in that 2nd half with a lot of confidence is truly ideal.

But also days ago i was talking with a fellow Devils fans and i was mentionning that it'd be great if the Bruins would lose a game or 2. just so that we could sit at the top of the league even if its just for a day lol and his response was... "well the bruins have a crazy easy schedule its ridiculous". And.... well typically lol when those "stats" come out, just like anything. If they support the narrative you want, you'll use them and if they don't you'll push them under the rug. haha if the Rangers were at the top of the league and this graphic came up. Most of us would 200% point it out, let's admit that lol 

To be clear, I was definitely not trying to suggest you were being a party pooper by any stretch...I was more pointing out that I wouldn't make too much out of anything that chart might suggest when we're less than a quarter of the way into the season...I consider you more the messenger in sharing this with us, than someone suggesting this can all go to sh!t in a hurry.

One thing that I've learned in sports (over and over again in fact) is that any time that I've tried to predict success and/or struggles based on how "easy" the opponents are...it tends not to go the way I would've expected...the 2022 Mets just reminded me of that yet again.  And out of so many examples, I'll never forget the 1995-96 Devils losing to Senators at HOME 5-2 on the final day of the season (which cost them a playoff berth of course)...after being up 2-1 in that game no less.

Not sure if you are familiar with Mike and the Mad Dog (they were the big afternoon sports show for a while, then eventually split, as they couldn't stand each other behind the scenes...Mad Dog is now doing satellite radio and has been for a while, and Mike mercifully decided to retire as he had become a stammering repetitive out-of-touch bore).  It was funny...say the NY Football Giants started off 5-1.  They'd then run down the rest of the Giants' schedule and then say as though it was a no-brainer:  "That's a Win...Win...Loss...Win...Loss".  And they were wrong CONSTANTLY...comically so (though Mike could never admit being wrong about anything at all).  

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