GDT: Devils vs. Islanders 7:30pm

[Don]

Thanks Rowdy. It was obviously tongue-in-cheek. Or maybe not obvious enough.

[mddevsfan]

The problem is when you look at all the teams that went far in the playoffs - Carolina, Buffalo, Anaheim and Edmonton - they DID get scoring from their third and fourth lines and all those teams had more scoring from their defense as well. In the 'new NHL' it might no longer be good enough to have only two scoring lines, I will give this Devils team a chance since they were the best team in the league last year after the new year but we'll see.

And right now without Gomez the Devils ARE a one-line team. Just not the line we all expected.

I can agree with most of that. I never thought the Devils were deep offensively, it was mainly the NO scoring depth part I disagreed with. I also should have qualified what I said by also saying that I was assuming the first line gets its act together. As of last night, yes, they were a one-line team.

BTW there's no way the fourth line gets a goal every 2-3 games as presently constituted. Unless you think Dowd's going to score 20. Rasmussen craps out at around 5 and if Cam gets one it'll be cause for Mardi Gras.

Assuming that the fourth line remains pretty constant as Rasmussen-Dowd-Janssen, I think its reasonable to say that Ras and Dowd each pot around 10, and Janssen chips in a handful as well. Ras and Dowd are more than just 4th line grinders. They do have some skills, they just never had anyone else around them with any. Janssen looks a lot better, and I really think he can get a few garbage goals in front of the net. They got a few decent chances last night, including one that I thought was going in that fluttered just over the crossbar.

I agree here, time to start laying down the hammer. One thing about that though, when Larry did it (benching Gomez and Mogilny in Carolina, which I agreed with then) he got killed for it.

The thing that troubled me most last night was that some Devils didn't really look to be skating hard at all, they were floating around behind the play way too often. That's the one major offense that really justifies yelling IMO. When you say Larry got killed for it, by who? Not disagreeing or anything, I'm just not sure what you mean. If you mean by us, then yeah, you have to expect that. People around here will bitch and moan about everything...

[sundstrom]

the problem is janssen is NEVER in front of the net. he's always looking to take someone out on the wall. i love his energy and his cap number almost as much, but the best we can hope for is what he did vs. florida and columbus which was throw some hits that take the other team out of their game. he eliminates almost any chance of the 4th line scoring a goal.

madden's line can generate offense - putting the puck in the net is another matter of course.

i think the biggest breakdowns have been rafalski and martin who have been below average defensemen since the season began. their mistakes in the defensive zone and inability to help with offense is where the breakdowns begin with this team and it snowballs after that.

i will also show patience, but if by 1/1/07, the team is in this same funk hanging around .500, those would be the two that i'd think would have to go.

[AZDevsFan]

God damn. Of all people, Kozlov has to put one in.

He made the difference in the game for the Isles IMO... I wish we would a kept him.

[Neutral Zone Trap]

I know I'm overreacting to this game, but it pains me to see rookie and second year players actually giving more of a sh!t then veterans on the team. I like Zajac and Parise a ton and I think both of them are going to be big stars on our team(if they aren't already). But many veterans on this team should be the ones setting the examples and leading this team.

The team should start benching and scratching players no matter who they are. There is a huge lack of motivation with this team lately.

Also how long can I wait until I can complain about Julien? I've never complained about any of the Devil's coach before on any pulic message board. I really hope I don't read in the papers today about how he gave his team the day off and took them all to Dairy Queen.

Its painful to watch a team this team as of late. The Devils are loaded with talent this year with a great balance of players and we should be cup contendors not just barely making it.

Great point about Julien, I don't like his style at all, he never shows any emotion on the bench, he is way too much of a soft touch, he cannot motivate the team, I have never seen him barking at his players after a bad shift or a bad pass that lead to an opposition goal, or a stupid penalty.

If the Devils are not much improved by the end of November, I say can his ass, a possibility of a replacement would be Hitchcock, to hell with the Flyers and his scouting position, let's pull the rug from under their feet like Bobby Clarke did to the Devils with the Brodeur rule.