GDT: NJ @ panthers. 6pm

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

6 hours ago, Devs64 said:

If I didn't make myself clear:

I didn't mean this game only, nor did I mean Dougie doesn't take shots. You want stats? Take the last 10 games for example. Last time he scored was March 1 in Colorado. That's 10 games ago. Not saying he's expected to score like McDavid, but if you look at his total SOG since March 1, he averages 2.4 shots per game...and sorry, but his shots don't pose threat to goalies like they used to. His total +/- for the same time is zero. He earned less than a point per game. Yes, he's having a great season, but this is the time the team needs its vets the most and Hamilton is not there. 

Speaking of Marino, his stats (without scoring of course) look no better than Hamilton's, but you are right about him normally making very few mistakes. 

So, stats do speak volumes but don't always explain the performance.

Dougie’s already blown away his previous career highs.  Guys have slumps and up and downs.  He hasn’t scored a goal in his last nine but he does have 6 assists…not like he’s seen his offensive contributions fall off completely.

This is the first Devils losing streak since December.  Also they were 28-0-2 previously when taking a lead into the third period.

The problem that I see sometimes is that as soon as the Devils hit any kind of a skid at all, some fans go to extremes.  “The Devils aren’t ready for the playoffs!”  The playoffs are still thirteen games away.  “The Devils need their vets and Hamilton isn’t there.”  Is the assumption that the Devils and Dougie can’t possibly get it going again?  I saw this team fight off a 1-7–1 funk and go on a terrific burst that lasted almost three months.  

It’s not always going to be easy…especially for a younger team that is still trying to establish itself.  There’s going to be tough losses and frustrating moments.  But the fact is when you’re 44-18-7 you haven’t really had to deal with very many of them.  And don’t forget about the fact that the Devils lead in NHL in comebacks this season, as is easy to do when a team stages a painful comeback win like last night’s.  The original hope was that the Devils would be in the wild card chase.  They’re actually within striking distance of first place with 13 games left in their season.

Edited March 19, 2023 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[jagknife]

6 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Dougie’s already blown away his previous career highs.  Guys have slumps and up and downs.  He hasn’t scored a goal in his last nine but he does have 6 assists…not like he’s seen his offensive contributions fall off completely.

This is the first Devils losing streak since December.  Also they were 28-0-2 previously when taking a lead into the third period.

The problem that I see sometimes is that as soon as the Devils hit any kind of a skid at all, some fans go to extremes.  “The Devils aren’t ready for the playoffs!”  The playoffs are still thirteen games away.  “The Devils need their vets and Hamilton isn’t there.”  Is the assumption that the Devils and Dougie can’t possibly get it going again?  I saw this team fight off a 1-7–1 funk and go on a terrific burst that lasted almost three months.  

It’s not always going to be easy…especially for a younger team that is still trying to establish itself.  There’s going to be tough losses and frustrating moments.  But the fact is when you’re 44-18-7 you haven’t really had to deal with very many of them.  And don’t forget about the fact that the Devils lead in NHL in comebacks this season, as is easy to do when a team stages a painful comeback win like last night’s.  The original hope was that the Devils would be in the wild card chase.  They’re actually within striking distance of first place with 13 games left in their season.

Re: bolded. If I’m not mistaken, it was YOU who guided them out of that skid with your GDT leadership…. Don’t make a new one until playoffs!

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

12 minutes ago, jagknife said:

Re: bolded. If I’m not mistaken, it was YOU who guided them out of that skid with your GDT leadership…. Don’t make a new one until playoffs!

Nah I was the one who wound up being the GDT beneficiary of the crazy winning streak…the power of the purple bar.  The 1-7-1 skid came after.  

[jagknife]

5 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Nah I was the one who wound up being the GDT beneficiary of the crazy winning streak…the power of the purple bar.  The 1-7-1 skid came after.  

Ah, I thought you had two streaks.

I know @NJDevils1214 had that west coast one too

Edited March 19, 2023 by jagknife

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Something else that got lost in the shuffle last night:  that was the just the Devils’ fifth regulation loss in 34 road games this year.  Devils’ road record is now 25-5-4.  

[Devs64]

Agree with Rockies 1976 and Nicomo's replies. 

Nicomo, I'm not a guy who makes fun of or dismisses the stats. I do agree that unlike other teams, Devils coaching staff isn't finding ways to counter other teams game. 

I won't be too upset even if Rangers end up higher than us in the standings. My only message is we are finally making the playoffs where (just my opinion) stats may become irrelevant even for experienced teams. Haven't we all seen this?

Hoping to see them return the favor to Tampa and find the way to finish the season strong.

Good luck to us tonight. 

 

[jagknife]

34 minutes ago, Devs64 said:

Agree with Rockies 1976 and Nicomo's replies. 

Nicomo, I'm not a guy who makes fun of or dismisses the stats. I do agree that unlike other teams, Devils coaching staff isn't finding ways to counter other teams game. 

I won't be too upset even if Rangers end up higher than us in the standings. My only message is we are finally making the playoffs where (just my opinion) stats may become irrelevant even for experienced teams. Haven't we all seen this?

Hoping to see them return the favor to Tampa and find the way to finish the season strong.

Good luck to us tonight. 

 

With this team , my expectations went from bubble at the start of the season to comfortably make it, to I think we can win a round.

That's where I'm still keeping them, but they need to settle down and regroup. We have the goaltending, we just need to put the rest of the game together and actually let some chemistry be built. Problem is Old Man River is getting antsy and desperate and won't keep a line together for longer than a game other than Tatar-Nico-Mercer, regardless if they click or not.

Can we also talk briefly about how they look like a different team when Nate freaking Bastian, of all players, is out??? Not a dig against Nate, by any means, he's solid in his bottom 6 role, its crazy to me that he always seems to be the catalyst for success. The anti-Cangilosi from when Doc was transitioning out of the booth for us

[RunninWithTheDevil]

If we lose again tonight, if I'm Fitz I might just say fvck it and pull a Ftorek and toss Lindy. I get we've been playing decently but there's no excuse for 4 losses in a row at this point in the season, especially when there were leads we couldn't hold. Lindy is losing the room and it could get very ugly very fast. 

[MadDog2020]

3 minutes ago, RunninWithTheDevil said:

If we lose again tonight, if I'm Fitz I might just say fvck it and pull a Ftorek and toss Lindy. I get we've been playing decently but there's no excuse for 4 losses in a row at this point in the season, especially when there were leads we couldn't hold. Lindy is losing the room and it could get very ugly very fast. 

It would certainly be a wake up call. I wouldn’t be against it. Give the reigns to Brunette. But it’s not happening. I can’t see Fitz firing Lindy at this point in the season.

Edited March 19, 2023 by MadDog2020

[RunninWithTheDevil]

9 minutes ago, MadDog2020 said:

It would certainly be a wake up call. I wouldn’t be against it. Give the reigns to Brunette. But it’s not happening. I can’t see Fitz firing Lindy at this point in the season.

It's absolutely not happening. Fitz will let Lindy stumble his way through the rest of the season and an early playoff exit, and we'll all sit here in July saying "Next season is gonna be great!"

[Puckbuster]

Last night suck, but sh!t happens.  They will fight through it.  Let’s Go Devils!

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

1 hour ago, RunninWithTheDevil said:

If we lose again tonight, if I'm Fitz I might just say fvck it and pull a Ftorek and toss Lindy. I get we've been playing decently but there's no excuse for 4 losses in a row at this point in the season, especially when there were leads we couldn't hold. Lindy is losing the room and it could get very ugly very fast. 

But as has been pointed out, the Devils had not suffered a single regulation loss when leading after two periods until last night.  Last night sucked but this is not some major issue with the 2022-23 Devils.

Also, this is who-you-know type of hysteria, where an 0-2-1 funk is extrapolated into everything falling apart and now you’re even making predictions about the Devils being easy prey come playoff time.  You’re better than this…I don’t think of you as one of the “AAAAAAAAAA!” types.  Even the Bruins just lost 3 out of 4 recently.  The Canes are 6-5-0 in their last 11 and even got shut out twice in a row.  

Re:  Lindy, look, I think a lot of us aren’t thrilled with him from a tactical standpoint in the slightest, and I have no doubts that he will not be the guy who leads this team to a championship, but there is NOTHING to suggest that he’s lost the room.  No one’s mailing it in…these guys are trying but guys like Jack aren’t playing their best at the moment.  You don’t hear much chirping about Lindy behind the scenes.  Ftorek ABSOLUTELY lost the room and Lou clearly had no other choice but to get him the hell outta there.  Not endorsing Lindy in the slightest here but the Devils have not quit on him and are not showing any signs of doing so.  There is a difference between not being a great coach and being a guy that players have grown to despise so much that they’re done making an effort or giving a damn.

Edited March 19, 2023 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[jagknife]

40 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

But as has been pointed out, the Devils had not suffered a single regulation loss when leading after two periods until last night.  Last night sucked but this is not some major issue with the 2022-23 Devils.

Also, this is who-you-know type of hysteria, where an 0-2-1 funk is extrapolated into everything falling apart and now you’re even making predictions about the Devils being easy prey come playoff time.  You’re better than this…I don’t think of you as one of the “AAAAAAAAAA!” types.  Even the Bruins just lost 3 out of 4 recently.  The Canes are 6-5-0 in their last 11 and even got shut out twice in a row.  

Re:  Lindy, look, I think a lot of us aren’t thrilled him from a tactical standpoint in the slightest, and I have no doubts that he will not be the guy who leads this team to a championship, but there is NOTHING to suggest that he’s lost the room.  No one’s mailing it in…these guys are trying but guys like Jack aren’t playing their best at the moment.  You don’t hear much chirping about Lindy behind the scenes.  Ftorek ABSOLUTELY lost the room and Lou clearly had no other choice but to get him the hell outta there.  Not endorsing Lindy in the slightest here but the Devils have not quit on him and are not showing any signs of doing so.  There is a difference between not being a great coach and being a guy that players have grown to despise so much that they’re done making an effort or giving a damn.

Yeah this team battles. They may be disorganized as all hell and look lost at points, but they haven’t quit.

do I think they win in spite of him? Yes

Do I think he doesn’t know what to do with this much talent, hence the constant shuffling? Yep

do I think he’s part of the problem with the coaching staff and lack of in game adjustments? You bet.

but Fitz isn’t Lou, and he won’t can the lame duck coach. Do I wish he would, yeah probably, but I don’t think the shockwave would have the desired result.

[devlman]

1 hour ago, RunninWithTheDevil said:

It's absolutely not happening. Fitz will let Lindy stumble his way through the rest of the season and an early playoff exit, and we'll all sit here in July saying "Next season is gonna be great!"

What the fvck you talking about? Yeah fire the guy who has us on pace for the best regular season in club history because we lost a game.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

47 minutes ago, jagknife said:

Yeah this team battles. They may be disorganized as all hell and look lost at points, but they haven’t quit.

do I think they win in spite of him? Yes

Do I think he doesn’t know what to do with this much talent, hence the constant shuffling? Yep

do I think he’s part of the problem with the coaching staff and lack of in game adjustments? You bet.

but Fitz isn’t Lou, and he won’t can the lame duck coach. Do I wish he would, yeah probably, but I don’t think the shockwave would have the desired result.

Agree with all of the above.  The time to can Lindy was probably back in December.  Very hard to do it now (especially since there’s no mutiny situation here) and I don’t think Brunette taking over at this point is magically going to cure every last ill.

Even if Fitz did the unimaginable (and I don’t think there’s any way that he will), what time is a new coach going to have to implement a new system?  There’s no real extended breaks coming up.

So even though I don’t believe in Lindy I fully get sticking with him through the end of this season, but if somehow he’s just automatically signed to a multi-year extension, yeah, I’m gonna wonder what in hell Fitz is thinking.  But let me see that actually happen first.

Edited March 19, 2023 by Colorado Rockies 1976