GDT: Devils @ Canucks 10:00 PM EST MSGSN NHLNET

[slasher72]

1 minute ago, devlman said:

What a game. What resiliency despite of another sub-par goaltending performance by VV.

I don’t care if he made a big save or two. Every NHL goaltender makes a big save a game. Vanecek’s rebound control is absolutely abysmal. He’s also not big in net. Weak deflections beat him very often. We can’t rely on scoring 6 a game every game.

VV and Siegenthaler are really bad. I wish there were options 

[njbuff]

I think it's apparent now.

If they won't fire Lindy, they have to shake things up and it starts with bringing in another goalie.

They can't continue to live like this in net. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

2 minutes ago, slasher72 said:

After watching the Isles vs Sharks game tonight I wish we had Hertl instead of Meier. 

Meier’s our (quite pricey) guy so I’m gonna keep rootin for him, but goddamn I’m really starting to run out of patience. I really needed to see him use his muscle to get the puck just before Vancouver tied it.

[Oglethorpe13]

Just wanted to point out, we're 1-0 when Smith isn't pkaying....lol

[Lateralous]

14 minutes ago, NJDfan1711 said:

Sit Siegs for who?  We already have two rookie D-men in the lineup.  And Bahl is fairly inexperienced too.  Half our d-men are young as hell.

Yeah and they’re all out performing him.  One night of Smith to send a message isn’t the worst thing. 

12 minutes ago, smelly said:

Don’t shoot me, but I would sit him for Smith for one game. 
 

Short term pain for (hopefully) long term gain. 

Agreed.  I would give him a Timo Meier wake up call in the press box for a night.   At this point I would also give Timo Meier another Timo walk up call.  He used to just take sh!t penalties when he wasn’t scoring.  Now he legit costs us a goal a night with his crap effort.   
 

Edited December 6, 2023 by Lateralous

[slasher72]

2 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Meier’s our (quite pricey) guy so I’m gonna keep rootin for him, but goddamn I’m really starting to run out of patience. I really needed to see him use his muscle to get the puck just before Vancouver tied it.

I agree. I know he's coming back from the injury etc but how long is that going up be used as an excuse for his half-assing it on the ice? He just appears disinterested. I don't know if Nico could take him aside and say WTF is going on? But it might help. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

4 minutes ago, njbuff said:

I think it's apparent now.

If they won't fire Lindy, they have to shake things up and it starts with bringing in another goalie.

They can't continue to live like this in net. 

Fitz might indeed do just that but keep in mind it’s probably not going to be a major upgrade.  Probably someone with a similar track record to VV who the Devils hope will get hot with a change of scenery.  Just not much out there right now.

[Nicomo]

7 minutes ago, Oglethorpe13 said:

Just wanted to point out, we're 1-0 when Smith isn't pkaying....lol

1-1 

He was out against SJ. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Timo’s a -15…no one else on this team is even close to that.

Maybe @jagknife was right about the curse of wearing #28…

[Nicomo]

9 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Timo’s a -15…no one else on this team is even close to that.

Maybe @jagknife was right about the curse of wearing #28…

This guy did alright with it…

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

1 minute ago, Nicomo said:

This guy did alright with it…

He did for sure.  Who wore it after him?  Volchenkov?  Going off the top of my head.

That being said, if Timo ever decided to go back to 96 as a way to change his luck, I wouldn’t object.

[Nicomo]

I know we joke about Jack coaching the team but this is pretty great. The look on Quinn’s face is the best part.

[Mitico12]

I will say it again, especially to those of you who were out planning a Stanley Cup celebration after last year's win against the NYR in the playoffs - the honeymoon is over!

Was last year a fluke? No. It wasn't. But we also rode a wave of success coupled by the fact that we had no expectations to go anywhere and players without much pressure on them.

The situation this year is different. We still have a coach who is out of touch in today's NHL, teams that are prepared to play us night-in, night-out, and a goaltending tandem that is clearly struggling to gain confidence.  Vitek Vanecek, for example, reminds me a lot of a bad version of Scott Clemmensen (and for those of you who recall him, he was shaky at best on a good day).

A team that comes into a first period and sh!ts the bed, or takes a commanding lead and can barely hold on to it, is a strong indicator of bad coaching and Ill preparation.

Add to that the fact that we have two goalies that cannot bail us out on a bad night, it's a very strong recipe for a top-10 draft pick come Spring of '24.

[jagknife]

This thread was something to read. I didn’t see a second of this one, but when I went to bed it was 4-2.

What I’ve gathered:

rebound control continues to suck

mcgill’s defensive strategy is still the worst in the league.

ruff decided until they tied it up to call a timeout, amongst his usual Ruff things

Timo’s face needs to be on a milk carton… or switch his number back cause Severson cursed the sh!t out of the number 28 (thanks to @Colorado Rockies 1976 for the shoutout there)

Jesper is heating back up

Jack Hughes is damn good at hockey

 

 

Something not talked about: either he’s hurt again or Lindy benched Colin Miller. 12 minutes of ice time, 4 minutes less than Luke while the rest played close to 20 or more (Seigs with 26!?! 5 more than Marino)

Championship era Lou would never have stood for this kind of underwhelming performances from the top down, yet Fitz is fine with “meh”

 

but they got 2 points, somehow.

On to Seattle…

[Devilsfan118]

I completely missed this one and just watched the highlights.. but if the broadcast team is keying on VV's rebounds, you can bet the opposing coaching staff has told its players to shoot low.

He's cooked.

[jagknife]

1 hour ago, Devilsfan118 said:

I completely missed this one and just watched the highlights.. but if the broadcast team is keying on VV's rebounds, you can bet the opposing coaching staff has told its players to shoot low.

He's cooked.

If only there was a guy behind the bench who would be specifically dedicated to keying in on a goalie’s tendencies to help alleviate this and prevent a gaping hole in their performance…

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

2 hours ago, jagknife said:

Championship era Lou would never have stood for this kind of underwhelming performances from the top down, yet Fitz is fine with “meh”

To be fair, I don't think it's really a question of Fitz being happy with "meh".  If asked, he would probably mention:

No Nico for 11 games.  (Devils are 8-3-1 when he plays)

No Timo for 8 games.

No Jack for 5 games.  

Dougie about to miss a LOT of time.

Other injuries (like Miller, Nosek, etc) leading to guys like Smith and Tierney and even guys like Willman and Laberge getting playing time.

I expect Fitz will want to see how the Devils do with both Nico and Jack in the lineup for an extended period.  

 

Keep in mind that Fitz bet HARD on this team already having most of the answers in house...he spent good money to keep Bratt and Timo and spent what limited leftover money he had on cheap depth guys that he didn't think would ever play as much as they have.  He extended Ruff.  As much as I might want Ruff replaced, I don't kid myself...at 12-10-1, the season is still plenty salvageable, and I'm more just venting about seeing the same issues not being corrected.  I don't expect Fitz to extend a guy and then can him 23 games into a season that, though frustrating to watch, hasn't truly gone off the rails.    

 

This all being said, I think it's absolutely fair to ask:

Why is it that this team that we'd all agree is quite talented look so disheveled as often as they do, especially once the other team starts to apply pressure?  

What the hell is going on with Timo?  Exactly when is this guy going to CONSISTENTLY start to look like the player that the Devils thought they were getting?  I can't keep looking for every little positive nugget with him, or keep trying to find ways to butter up his numbers to cut him slack...even if he's not that far off what I'd consider to be his bottom-end production for a full season, I'm having a hard time seeing why he's worth $8.8 million AAV at the moment.  He needs to get the fvck going, sooner than later.  I'm not giving up on him, but he's had 37 regular-season games and a full training camp and preseason to adjust.  Stop looking like you just fvcking got here dude!

What the fvck is going on with Siegs?  

If Ruff is going to attempt to hold players accountable, can he actually be consistent about it?  Smith nor Siegs ever deserved a benching this season?  

Can someone (McGill?!) remind Bahl that he's allowed to use his size?

Lindy and Smith are similar, in that they both are great at identifying what's wrong...and then not doing very much about it.  

   

[RunninWithTheDevil]

🤣🤣🤣

 

[ButlerBulldog]

1 hour ago, RunninWithTheDevil said:

🤣🤣🤣

 

He’s never going to hear the end of this from Jack.

[RizzMB30]

6 minutes ago, ButlerBulldog said:

He’s never going to hear the end of this from Jack.

Lol, or Mom. 

[MadDog2020]

1 hour ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

To be fair, I don't think it's really a question of Fitz being happy with "meh".  If asked, he would probably mention:

No Nico for 11 games.  (Devils are 8-3-1 when he plays)

No Timo for 8 games.

No Jack for 5 games.  

Dougie about to miss a LOT of time.

Other injuries (like Miller, Nosek, etc) leading to guys like Smith and Tierney and even guys like Willman and Laberge getting playing time.

I expect Fitz will want to see how the Devils do with both Nico and Jack in the lineup for an extended period.  

 

Keep in mind that Fitz bet HARD on this team already having most of the answers in house...he spent good money to keep Bratt and Timo and spent what limited leftover money he had on cheap depth guys that he didn't think would ever play as much as they have.  He extended Ruff.  As much as I might want Ruff replaced, I don't kid myself...at 12-10-1, the season is still plenty salvageable, and I'm more just venting about seeing the same issues not being corrected.  I don't expect Fitz to extend a guy and then can him 23 games into a season that, though frustrating to watch, hasn't truly gone off the rails.    

 

This all being said, I think it's absolutely fair to ask:

Why is it that this team that we'd all agree is quite talented look so disheveled as often as they do, especially once the other team starts to apply pressure?  

What the hell is going on with Timo?  Exactly when is this guy going to CONSISTENTLY start to look like the player that the Devils thought they were getting?  I can't keep looking for every little positive nugget with him, or keep trying to find ways to butter up his numbers to cut him slack...even if he's not that far off what I'd consider to be his bottom-end production for a full season, I'm having a hard time seeing why he's worth $8.8 million AAV at the moment.  He needs to get the fvck going, sooner than later.  I'm not giving up on him, but he's had 37 regular-season games and a full training camp and preseason to adjust.  Stop looking like you just fvcking got here dude!

What the fvck is going on with Siegs?  

If Ruff is going to attempt to hold players accountable, can he actually be consistent about it?  Smith nor Siegs ever deserved a benching this season?  

Can someone (McGill?!) remind Bahl that he's allowed to use his size?

Lindy and Smith are similar, in that they both are great at identifying what's wrong...and then not doing very much about it.  

   

I’m seriously losing my patience with Timo. He was a fvcking zombie last night. The only time I noticed him is when he let Quinn walk right around him, leading directly to a goal, when he should’ve been harder on the puck. 

Edited December 6, 2023 by MadDog2020

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

1 minute ago, MadDog2020 said:

I’m seriously losing my patience with Timo. He was a fvcking zombie last night. The only time I noticed him is when he let Quinn walk right around him, leading directly to a goal, when he should’ve been harder on the puck. 

Yeah it would be one thing if he was getting snakebit on multiple scoring opportunities but was still making his mark with some physical play.  But overall it feels like he's either taking a WTF kind of penalty and/or generally not making that much of a consistent impact on these games.  That whole play with Quinn was frustrating as could be.

I know +/- isn't everything but he's now had eight straight games where he's been a -1 or -2 (-13 overall).  It's just...infuriating.

[MadDog2020]

14 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Yeah it would be one thing if he was getting snakebit on multiple scoring opportunities but was still making his mark with some physical play.  But overall it feels like he's either taking a WTF kind of penalty and/or generally not making that much of a consistent impact on these games.  That whole play with Quinn was frustrating as could be.

I know +/- isn't everything but he's now had eight straight games where he's been a -1 or -2 (-13 overall).  It's just...infuriating.

This dude is the highest paid forward on the team, and that is straight up bullsh!t at this point. He’s playing like he got his payday and now he’s good. Completely unacceptable.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

2 minutes ago, MadDog2020 said:

This dude is the highest paid forward on the team, and that is straight up bullsh!t at this point. He’s playing like he got his payday and now he’s good. Completely unacceptable.

If the bolded is accurate on any level...I'm sure Jack, Nico, and others will call him on it.  Jack and Nico obviously give a fvck and then some.  I know Jesper can look disengaged at times but I think that's just how it appears when he's in one of his funks. 

[devlman]

5 hours ago, jagknife said:

This thread was something to read. I didn’t see a second of this one, but when I went to bed it was 4-2.

What I’ve gathered:

rebound control continues to suck

mcgill’s defensive strategy is still the worst in the league.

ruff decided until they tied it up to call a timeout, amongst his usual Ruff things

Timo’s face needs to be on a milk carton… or switch his number back cause Severson cursed the sh!t out of the number 28 (thanks to @Colorado Rockies 1976 for the shoutout there)

Jesper is heating back up

Jack Hughes is damn good at hockey

 

 

Something not talked about: either he’s hurt again or Lindy benched Colin Miller. 12 minutes of ice time, 4 minutes less than Luke while the rest played close to 20 or more (Seigs with 26!?! 5 more than Marino)

Championship era Lou would never have stood for this kind of underwhelming performances from the top down, yet Fitz is fine with “meh”

 

but they got 2 points, somehow.

On to Seattle…

I thought we played pretty well. Can’t fault Lindy for this one. His timeout actually turned us around and won us the game in the end.

Not to say Lindy doesn’t have things to sort out but let’s be honest what our number one problem is: Goaltending. Our goalies are the worst duo in the league. Vanecek is bordering Jon Gillies territory with his pathetic goaltending. 

Hope we can get Gibson. There’s not much out there but he seems to be turning around his career for the better. Wouldn’t mind getting him on the upswing of that.

Edited December 6, 2023 by devlman