2023-2024 Around The League thread

[Satans Hockey]

2 hours ago, Crisis said:

Dice does a cool thing with their concert tickets.  After a show sells out, you can put your tickets on a wait list to be sold to others who missed the original sale and if someone picks them up, they refund your money.

I've seen that, I'd be fine with things if it all went that way. 

My problem is the Devils trying to limit us to only x amount of games that can be sold but then have the balls to go and sell tons of tickets to ticket brokers or selling large groups to people who they know are opposing teams fans. 

[Lateralous]

1 hour ago, capo said:

Lou would can his kid in a minute.

Not to miss @ButlerBulldog point but didn't Lou let his kid run multiple minor league affiliates of ours into the ground with no repercussions?   

Edit: You know I'm frustrated with this franchise when I'm bringing up Chris Lamoriello's management flaws. 😂  

Edited March 12 by Lateralous

[capo]

8 hours ago, Lateralous said:

Not to miss @ButlerBulldog point but didn't Lou let his kid run multiple minor league affiliates of ours into the ground with no repercussions?   

Edit: You know I'm frustrated with this franchise when I'm bringing up Chris Lamoriello's management flaws. 😂  

Minor league GMs don't have very much authority. 

[jagknife]

13 hours ago, Satans Hockey said:

If you really want to change things and get rid of scalping forever is that Ticketmaster and whatever sports team you bought tickets from should have to give you a full refund if you can't make the event. You can even put in that the form has to be submitted 48 hours beforehand but you don't have to give them any reasoning why you can't make it.

The Devils do something sorta similar where we get 8 buybacks a year where we can submit games back to the team but the catch is the money has to go to next year's invoice so if you don't renew you're out that money.

Instead we let teams who suck or show no initiative to win get to keep everyone's money instead. They get rewarded for losing while season ticket holders eat sh!t for a bad season while single game buyers can get into the buildings for dirt cheap.

Also how about this rule, if you don't make the playoffs you can't raise your ticket prices by more than 1%. Devils raised our tickets 9% for next season and they sent out renewals in February which also shouldn't be allowed cause the current season isn't even over yet and they don't need our money in February for a season that doesn't even start till October.

 

Sabres fans have been bitching for decades that season ticket holders do the smart thing when your home team sucks and sell the games against a rival for insane prices that the rival fans will pay.

For Buffalo, its the Leafs' contingents that make the 90 minute drive but pay more to watch a game in Buffalo that still won't pass as much as people would pay in Toronto.

Some teams cant get out of their own way, like ours with the 9% raise.

[NJDfan1711]

It doesn't matter anymore, but this team can't say they weren't getting a little help here and there, if they wanted to try and squeak into the playoffs.  Both Caps and Isles lost last night. And we all know the Pens are spiraling. It's unfortunate that we're spiraling too, because a tight race 2-3 weeks ago has now seemed to come down to Tampa/Isles/Wings/Caps.

The Panrhers, Rags, Canes and even Kings are all good teams, but last season we were on the same level as all of them, and you have to find a way to beat at least one of them, even getting a split isn't asking for too much. But to lose all 4, and then lose to a team like the Ducks, this team simply doesn't deserve the playoffs. 

It's been said before, but what a massively disappointing season this has been all around. So many players and aspects of the team have seemed to regress. Not going to lie, it has me mildly concerned about whether or not some of these players are overrated. Mercer had a really bad season if you ask me. He's still so young, and he didn't commit many mistakes which is good, but he was just far from an impact most nights. Haula was also terrible. 

We know that Holtz was hamstrung a lot, but I still don't know if he's as good as everyone builds him up to be. In my opinion he gets a lot of undue praise. 

With McLeod gone and Bastian hurt, our bottom 6 is pretty bad.  We no longer roll a top 9 of forwards who can light the lamp at a moments notice. Lazar, Haula, Holtz need to be counted on to score regularly, and they just don't. And guys like Tierney, MacDermid, and Nosek bring next to nothing. Those last 3 I just mentioned, it really reminds me of the devil's between 2014 and 2016 - when the cupboard was bare and we were just rolling out fill-ins night after night. Guys who look like beer league players at best. We can have 1, maybe 2 of those types of guys for grit and to play an enforcer role, but when you have 4-6 of them, you now have a depth problem, which is something I never thought I'd say given how this team looked last year when we were overflowing with speed, goal scoring, and talent in general.

Lots of work to do for the GM this offseason.

/Rant

Edited March 12 by NJDfan1711

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

@NJDfan1711 I currently see the Devils as a rudderless yacht that sent its captain adrift, with a crew that knows that the first mate probably should've joined the captain in the lifeboat, so they're plenty discontent, even though they could've been a better crew themselves.

A repairman was sent and was able to do just enough to make sure that the vessel will slowly but eventually limp its way back to port, but until it does, he's powerless to fix the rudder and the other issues currently plaguing the rest of the ship.

 

Anyway, yeah, not like the Devils didn't have their chances and it's not like the teams ahead of them haven't left openings, even when it looks like some of them were on their way to fully solidifying spots.  It's just not this team's year, and the next 17 games will only underscore that fact.  We'll never know what a new coach and some personnel moves might have done for the 2023-24 Devils, but we'll find out soon enough what they'll do for the 2024-25 and beyond Devils.  And if Fitz can make the right decisions to make this 2023-24 a brief downturn.  

[NJDevils1214]

8 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

@NJDfan1711 I currently see the Devils as a rudderless yacht that sent its captain adrift, with a crew that knows that the first mate probably should've joined the captain in the lifeboat, so they're plenty discontent, even though they could've been a better crew themselves.

A repairman was sent and was able to do just enough to make sure that the vessel will slowly but eventually limp its way back to port, but until it does, he's powerless to fix the rudder and the other issues currently plaguing the rest of the ship.

 

Anyway, yeah, not like the Devils didn't have their chances and it's not like the teams ahead of them haven't left openings, even when it looks like some of them were on their way to fully solidifying spots.  It's just not this team's year, and the next 17 games will only underscore that fact.  We'll never know what a new coach and some personnel moves might have done for the 2023-24 Devils, but we'll find out soon enough what they'll do for the 2024-25 and beyond Devils.  And if Fitz can make the right decisions to make this 2023-24 a brief downturn.  

I don't understand seafarering analogies. Who is dating who and which one is the ex-girlfriend?

[ButlerBulldog]

11 minutes ago, NJDevils1214 said:

I don't understand seafarering analogies. Who is dating who and which one is the ex-girlfriend?

In the above equation, Brunette is apparently the ex-girlfriend, who was dumped by her boyfriend, New Jersey Devil, after he received a huge promotion and raise.  The boyfriend has since squandered the signing bonus that accompanied the promotion and thrown his new girlfriend out of his house after discovering that she was stealing from him.  In a desperate bid to reclaim the magic of his previous relationship, New Jersey Devil has tattooed Brunette’s face to his right arm and roams the streets every night, calling for her, but as she’s since relocated to Tennessee, she does not hear his impassioned pleas, nor does she notice the tears—simultaneously betraying regret and bitterness—in his eyes.

[Satans Hockey]

 

[ButlerBulldog]

2 minutes ago, Satans Hockey said:

 

Nope.  Hockey has already failed twice in Atlanta.  Better to let a new city have an expansion team.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

13 minutes ago, ButlerBulldog said:

Nope.  Hockey has already failed twice in Atlanta.  Better to let a new city have an expansion team.

Yeah fvck that.  Already had two chances.

[nessus]

23 hours ago, ButlerBulldog said:

In the above equation, Brunette is apparently the ex-girlfriend, who was dumped by her boyfriend, New Jersey Devil, after he received a huge promotion and raise.  The boyfriend has since squandered the signing bonus that accompanied the promotion and thrown his new girlfriend out of his house after discovering that she was stealing from him.  In a desperate bid to reclaim the magic of his previous relationship, New Jersey Devil has tattooed Brunette’s face to his right arm and roams the streets every night, calling for her, but as she’s since relocated to Tennessee, she does not hear his impassioned pleas, nor does she notice the tears—simultaneously betraying regret and bitterness—in his eyes.

Deep down, the New Jersey Devil knows that Fitz made a mistake, but he is too focused on blaming Lou to realize it

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

Painful!!!!!

 

[NJDevils1214]

9 minutes ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

Painful!!!!!

 

[MadDog2020]

22 minutes ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

Painful!!!!!

 

 

[ButlerBulldog]

24 minutes ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

Painful!!!!!

 

I’ll say what I’ve said before: Lindy should have been fired November 24, after the home loss to Columbus.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

1 minute ago, ButlerBulldog said:

I’ll say what I’ve said before: Lindy should have been fired November 24, after the home loss to Columbus.

Agree completely, but then the Devils went on what felt like a season-stabilizing run of 14-6-2, and with Lindy of course having been signed to an extension, Fitz wasn't going to bail on him just 19 games into the season.  I thought the latest that he should have been canned was at the ASB, with the Devils limping into the ASB with a 2-5 record and just looking bad.

[NJDfan1711]

16 hours ago, ButlerBulldog said:

Nope.  Hockey has already failed twice in Atlanta.  Better to let a new city have an expansion team.

Quebec, Houston, Hartford.....any of those probably make more sense.

But...I don't want to see more than 32 teams. That's already enough. 

[MadDog2020]

1 hour ago, ButlerBulldog said:

I’ll say what I’ve said before: Lindy should have been fired November 24, after the home loss to Columbus.

💯💯💯💯

[MadDog2020]

24 minutes ago, NJDfan1711 said:

Quebec, Houston, Hartford.....any of those probably make more sense.

But...I don't want to see more than 32 teams. That's already enough. 

Don’t exceed the NFL. That should be the rule. No league needs more teams than the most successful sports league in the country. 

[DevilMinder]

19 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Yeah fvck that.  Already had two chances.

I lived in Savannah for a year, hockey doesn't even exist to people in GA. Like there are no scores in the papers or games in the bars. Smaller cities with more hockey fans would be way better.

 

[MadDog2020]

27 minutes ago, DevilMinder said:

I lived in Savannah for a year, hockey doesn't even exist to people in GA. Like there are no scores in the papers or games in the bars. Smaller cities with more hockey fans would be way better.

 

All the Atlanta propagandists will tell you the Thrashers ownership group was terrible. I don’t wanna hear it; you’ve had two chances. You don’t get a third before some other cities get a second or a first. 

[ButlerBulldog]

53 minutes ago, MadDog2020 said:

All the Atlanta propagandists will tell you the Thrashers ownership group was terrible. I don’t wanna hear it; you’ve had two chances. You don’t get a third before some other cities get a second or a first. 

As much as I’d love to have another NHL city close by for when the Devils visit, I just don’t see Atlanta as a viable option.  It’s just not a hockey city, and there’s no shame in acknowledging that, but there would be shame in allowing a third team in the area only to see it fail within ten years.

[nmigliore]

Maybe it's just brutal puck luck but I'd love to understand what the heck happened to this team's ability to finish on scoring chances since the calendar flipped to February. As much we like to blame the goaltending for losses, this is just as responsible of late. Yikes.

EDIT: Sorry, meant for this to be in the 2023-24 Devils thread, not here... whatever. 

Edited March 13 by nmigliore

[ButlerBulldog]

4 minutes ago, nmigliore said:

Maybe it's just brutal puck luck but I'd love to understand what the heck happened to this team's ability to finish on scoring chances since the calendar flipped to February. As much we like to blame the goaltending for losses, this is just as responsible of late. Yikes.

EDIT: Sorry, meant for this to be in the 2023-24 Devils thread, not here... whatever. 

No idea what caused it, but I do wonder if the inability to convert scoring chances is part of the reason for the chronic overpassing during power plays.  Does the pull-down menu show trends for 5-on-5 versus power play action?