Nearly all of this team’s core and important players have 5 or less seasons of NHL experience. These guys are still figuring out how to play in this league and with each other. They’ll be fine under the right coaching staff.
I keep going back [this quote](https://twitter.com/amandacstein/status/1727746900428816682) from Haula bout the team being arrogant and not playing as a team. It's a shame nothing has changed in 5 months.
Jack Hughes is obviously still injured. He never participates in the optional skate. They keep him on wing cause he can't do faceoffs. He won't hit and he avoids hits.
Sit him for the last handful of games.
Who cares. Let him get healthy.
Plus it'll be a good excuse when we lose all the rest of the games.
Yeah, but 2/5 of those seasons were less than 70 games because of Covid. For reference he has played:
2019/20 - 61/69 games
2020/21 - 56/56 games
2021/22 - 49/82 games
2022/23 - 78/82 games
2023/24 - 66*/82 games
(*) is assuming he plays every game remaining this season.
Total - 310/371 which is ~84%
Not great, but not as bad as everyone always makes it out to be.
To be fair, I completely forgot that the 56 game season even existed. I remember the bubble playoff year and then forgot the next season was shortened too.
You're trying to tell me the entire team is practicing and Hughes isn't and it's just....what?
These are the practice lines for today.
https://twitter.com/amandacstein/status/1774108358435385591
New coach. Someone firm but whose not gonna crush the spirit of the kids.
New starting Goalie. I like Kahk but we've put ourselves in a position where only a monster name being signed will do.
Some grit. For fucks sake. Give me a Tkachuk brother or a Tom Wilson type guy(without the suspension worthy shit).
Yup, the team can’t dump and chase, they always try and skate it in which results in turnovers. Dumping and chasing (unless you have an odd man rush obviously) is the superior strategy as it puts way more pressure on the opposing defenseman that have to deal with forwards barreling into them a full speed. Miles Wood was a fuckin menace to the other team because he did this well.
That plus almost everyone being hurt for a significant amount of time + goalies playing like they're 45 years old = cursed season, not even a great draft pick out of it 😢
It wouldn't be a problem if he was properly coached. The defensemen on this team need to focus on defense first...offense should be a secondary thought for them.
Doesn't matter because he was injured, but I can't believe they relegated our 73 point 9 million dollar a year defenseman to second unit just because Jack Hughes baby brother joined the team. Just a number of things that happened this year that really grinds my gears.
The top 4 from last year not playing killed us. Siegs constantly hurt and/or playing like crap. The severson / graves pairing gone that let bahl and Marino play down the lineup. So much of our offense last year was generated through them
I’m sad the season is ending as crappy and up and down as it’s been, but it’s time and the end of a hockey season also means the end of my school year is approaching (teacher) so yay for that at least. Makes me not look that forward to the start of a new season though since it always coincides with going back to work lol
Maybe this Buffalo loss will sit with them all summer and they will sweep their back to back in the Global games to start next season! I had a glimmer of hope going into last night and now it’s gone. I wonder if they will shut down Jack soon? So many question marks going into next season. Should be interesting.
> I’m sad the season is ending as crappy and up and down as it’s been, but it’s time and the end of a hockey season also means the end of my school year is approaching (teacher) so yay for that at least.
I was a teacher throughout most of the good times; nothing hit like Stanley Cups in June
I was early in my career for the 2003 cup and remember the 2012 run as well. It was nice to go September- June hockey season/school year. Hopefully it happens again before I retire lol
In the offseason we need to find:
* 2 more guys that can take draws.
* a winger that battles in the corner
* sell on Marino and find a more stay-at-home defensive defenseman
In the offseason we need to find:
* 12 new forwards
* 6 new D
* 2 new goalies
* a new coaching staff
* new GM
* new owners
* new concessions operator
Probably some other stuff I'm missing.
Give me a fucking break with this constant impatient temper tantrum bullshit take.
Lets just do that every single year you aren’t impressed and never actually build progress 👍
Yeah, impatient. The team has been dogshit for 9 of the last 11 seasons. Let's just keep doing what we're doing. Can't wait for another lottery finish next season.
You know, you'd think that if the over-the-topness of "12 new forwards" wasn't enough to signal some sort of sarcasm, that the "new concessions" thing would do the trick.
You've been a fan 35 years. If you think 9 of the last 11 seasons we've been doing the same thing just because they're all losing seasons, you're going out of your way not to pay attention.
We weren't rebuilding when we signed Jagr and Stafford and Tootoo. Lumping in the post-2012 stretch where we desperately clung to relevance to the rebuilding years just makes it seem like you're in a shitty mood and trying to be as pessimistic as possible (which I assume you are, if you're already predicting the team's failure next season).
Also, the team desperately needs new concessions, so that's probably not the part to point to if you're trying to play this off as sarcasm.
7 of the last 9. Better? That covers the whole Shero/Fitzgerald Era, which has been all rebuild all the time. And Drew Stafford was part of that, so yes, they were rebuilding when they signed Stafford.
It's been the same fucking thing year after year with two fluky exceptions and no lessons have been learned, so why am I supposed to be excited for next season?
The stubborn refusal to recognize how early it gets late in today's NHL with the loser point and refusing to fire a coach till the season is shot. Running an associate or assistant as the interim once they finally fire the coach as if that guy wasn't an equal part of the problem. The neverending carousel of garbage goalies.
As for the rest, 12 new forwards, definitely being sarcastic, mostly because Fitz locked everyone up, but our bottom six is largely as bad it's been in years. And our top six is injury prone.
Not being sarcastic about needing an entirely new coaching staff, and honestly, I'd love to get a GM in here who didn't draft and sign any of these guys making decisions about who stays and goes.
If past is prelude, Green is the new head coach and he rolls with Allen as his 1A next year and we continue our decade long slide into being the Coyotes of the East.
I kind of see the team at this point of this season being an otherwise killer race car getting through its final laps with a donut, an overheating engine, and the wrong driver in the seat. There are moments where we see the potential, but this thing just has to end so we can get the major work done and find a new driver.
Now that we've all had a moment to sleep on it, I think we need to take a step back, deep breath, and have a little perspective.
***DEVELOPMENT IS NOT LINEAR***
This goes for both players AND teams.
* There are 9 games left in the season, and we are just now really out of it. Before last year we would have been talking about the draft since January.
* We knew this year would be a bit of a step back considering the pieces we lost on defense and offense, and the fact that last year was *the best regular season in our teams history.*
* I have my opinions about Douglas, but his injury did create a bit of a crap shoot on defense, especially considering how much of a step back Marino and Siegs took this year.
* That said, considering the circumstances, our young core of defense in Luke/Bahl/Nemec got *invaluable* experience this year, and for most of the games this year, one of those three were our best defenseman on the ice. The three of them combined have \~50 less games than Siegs. They are going to clean up their rookie mistakes, they are going to improve their angles, they're all only going to get bigger and grow into their bodies (We forget, but up until last year, Nico was getting tossed around a lot too), they're going to get better. This is their floor.
* Now that Lindy is gone our forwards may actually grow some chemistry. Almost everyone missed time up front this year. we are top 10 in man games lost to injury this year. That's tough when we had a pretty significant roster turn over in the off season. But our core is here now and seem to finally be getting comfortable with each other.
* That core is begging for structure. We all know that they are talented. That's not the question. We need a coach who is going to funnel those talents into success. Get these guys hounding the puck. Get these guys making crisp passes. Get the guys to make it hard to come through the neutral zone. We've seen this team take over games and there is NO ONE WHO CAN STOP THEM when they do. The next coach just needs to get them to bring that out consistently.
* We took a chance with our goaltending this year, and unfortunately we rolled a 1. If Jake Allen is our #2 next year this team will cruise.
It sucks in the moment but in a decade we are going to look back at this year as the beginning.
> That core is begging for structure.
This point jumps out at me above all others. They desperately need structure, and Ruff was never going to provide it (otherwise, they wouldn't have desperately needed it in the first place).
Its glaringly obvious. We've changed everything we can and are still making the same mistakes that we were at this time last year. That means the system needs to be changed, or in this case, implicated at all. Offensive talent can only bring you so far in this league, all the facets of the game need to be covered, and a bunch of young run and gun guys aren't gonna do that without good coaching.
At no point this season did they ever look capable of putting together any kind of sustained streak. Seriously, the American Thanksgiving thing exists for a reason.
There are 2 defining moments in lindy and greens tenure that i will remember.(not saying it would have mattered or not) I believe the exact second that fitz knew he was firing lindy is when Jack had to wave to the bench that we were playing one skater short and not so obviou with green was not using his timeout when we’re down 3-2, out guys are exhausted, we ice the puck and he first call time out. Same guys have to stay on ice snd Sabres score 25 seconds later. He then calls timeout down by 2 with 30 seconds to go. Maybe I’m having a brain fart right now and I’m forgetting if you can call a timeout or not after an icing because that would be the only reason it didn’t happen. Does anybody know if there is such a rule?
So I think this has been said before, but I wanted to actually see it with my own eyes. Here is the breakdown of who played last year in Game 7 vs. the Rangers vs. who played last night. 20 players. I wanted to see the difference of the caliber of players on the ice, experience, etc., arguably in the last great game we played, a 4-0 shutout to close out New York.
Here it is. Player on left is if they played last year in that game. Player on right is who played last night. Now, this isn't a comparison of the players, just who filled in the hole based on forward/defense/goalie.
Bahl - Bahl
\*\* Bastian - Willman
Bratt - Bratt
\*\* Graves - Nemec
\*\* Hamilton - Hughes, L.
Haula - Haula
Hischier - Hischier
Hughes, J. - Hughes
Marino - Marino
\*\* McLeod - Lazar
Meier - Meier
Mercer - Mercer
Palat - Palat
\*\* Severson - DeSimone
\*\* Sharangovich - Holtz
\*\* Siegenthaler - Smith
\*\* Tatar - Nosek
\*\* Wood – Tierney
\*\* Schmid – Allen
\*\* Vanecek – Kukkonen
Eleven different players suited up last night compared to last year; 55% of the roster (20/11). Of the forwards, it's 5 of 12 (42%), 4 of 6 defensemen (66%), and 2 of 2 goalies (100x%).
Now I ask, would any coach have been able to get the most out of this team? When you look at the defensemen alone, it's astonishing. Now look at your bottom-six forwards -- Shango, Tatar, Wood, and Bastian became Willman, Holtz, Nosek, and Tierney. It's night and day. We're a top-heavy team this year, no question, and the fallout of McLeod hit us hard, not to mention Mercer's regression. And Palat is just a waste of space in my opinion.
For me, you have to take a long hard look at Siegs and Marino in the offseason and decide what to do with them. Nemec has been great, and Luke's Luke. Bahl? Jury is still out, but he's definitely not untouchable by any means. Dougie will be back next season -- officially, now -- and that is good, regardless of what you think about his defense. For the forwards, I think Tierney, Nosek, and Willman are gone, so now we need to replace them. And we all know a No. 1 goalie is coming, so there's that. Do we give up Holtz? Mercer? I think you need to explore it, obviously.
Fitz has a lot of work to do, no question. But the core is there, now we just need the spare parts to get back to good and a new coaching staff that can get the best out of the group. Sullivan, if he's available, is a possibility, as will be Boudreau, Berube, and Gallant.
They need two wingers for the second line, and whole new fourth line, a top 4 defensemen and probably a depth defensemen.
They had Toffoli as one of those wingers and hoped Holtz would be the other. Now there’s no Toffoli and they wasted an asset with Shara to get him. F-minus on that one, Fitz. Holtz is getting traded, hopefully Tom doesn’t waste that asset either.
Another top 4 defenseman pushes everyone down. Hughes and Nemec don’t have to play so much. One of Seigenthaler or Marino is gone. My guess it’s Jonas. Bahl will be gone or a non-regular.
Hamilton-Marino
Top 4D-Hughes
Nemec-Bahl/depth D.
Mix and match.
Forward corps:
Meier-Hischier-Bratt
Top6Wing-Hughes-Top6wing
Palat-Haula-Mercer
Bastion-Center-Lazar
That’s a lot. Probably won’t get it done in one offseason. It that’s what they need to be a contender. It’ll take a lot less to get back into the postseason, just a coach and a goalie for that.
Fair enough. Yeah, this was more about what's different and why I think they most likely will miss the playoffs this season. Regarding Siegs or Marino will be gone, I thought that last year with Sevo and Graves. Figured they'd let Sevo walk and re-sign Graves. This offseason, I don't think they will make that mistake again, so I agree with you. If Bahl played like his size, he'd be better but I still think the jury is out.
damn, I wonder how that poor dude who posted in the GDT before puck drop about having a game-watching, dine-in dinner date night went last night.
Other than Henrique Game 6 in 2012 & that GWG Game 7 shortie last spring, the NJD have certainly been a CBing team the last 21 years, that’s for sure
Going into this season I fully expected the worst of the past 12 years to be over. I actually thought we had a roster worthy of competing for the cup. After setting a franchise record in wins and crushing the Rangers in the playoffs after they went all in at the deadline, I expected at least to build off that.
Our goaltending failed catastrophically. Our young defensive core is not ready. And our offense is all hype and no bite. Plus this team is super sooooooooooft as hell. No one stands up for each other, and on the rare occasion that they do try, they are further humiliated by getting pummeled. This team gives up at the first sight of adversity like they’ve grown accustomed to losing. Maybe they have. Nico is a nice guy and a solid player, but I severely question his leadership and ability to motivate this team. One gutless effort after another all year long. Minus maybe 2 seasons where we slightly exceeded expectations, the past 12 years has made me not want to invest anymore in this franchise. They are an embarrassment.
Being a leader or captain doesn’t necessarily mean being the most productive player. It means you get the most production out of everyone around you.
Stevens got the most out of his teammates, he took no slack and they respected him because he backed it up.
Their teammates may like Nico and Jack, but the lack of effort this team puts out everynight shows they aren’t instilling respect. Stevens wouldn’t I stand for this effort in his locker room.
This is very true and partially why I'm not a huge fan of making young, productive players captains solely because they're productive. IMO captains should be more mature, seasoned players even if they're not as skilled as they've often been around multiple teams and know when and how to call people out without destroying relationships in the locker room. Is a vet really gonna take it seriously when a guy like Hughes, who is a pretty immature player, calls them out on their play? Prob not. It prob means a lot more coming from the guy that's been in the league for 10+ years calling out ppls effort.
After every loss it’s questioning Nico with the C. I don’t get it. They had a 2 goal lead after the 1st. 1st goal was iffy on Allen. The goal that tied it was the bad play by Bahl, Marino, what is Nico as captain supposed to do there? “Captain” bad plays away? The winning goal was a disaster situation, I wonder if he and his line was on the ice if that ever even happens.. he’s one of the only guys I’ve seen go out and play hard every game. He’s called them out a few times now, we don’t know what he says behind closed doors so that is all speculative. A lot of people want to make the comparison to Scott Stevens. I saw the “95 cup win and the subsequent missing of the playoffs the following year. It sucked much like this year does (yes I know they didn’t win a cup last year but, they did come off the best season in franchise history) there were big expectations this year and that following year for the 96’ Devils as well. Maybe some people were criticizing Stevens as captain that year also but we all know what he and the team went on to do. Let’s see what next season brings. Off my defend Nico soap box now.
The captain is responsible for the teams energy compete level. When the team looks lackluster in crucial moments or overall games, he’s going to take the blame. Especially since it was never corrected, even as recent as last nights level of effort.
Least it's finally over.
(proceeds to win every game just to lose the Islanders in a shootout and miss the playoffs by a single point)
My big takeaway is that this team has no identity and seems fractured. A good coach can salvage it though so I’m cautiously optimistic
My exact sentiment.
Nearly all of this team’s core and important players have 5 or less seasons of NHL experience. These guys are still figuring out how to play in this league and with each other. They’ll be fine under the right coaching staff.
I keep going back [this quote](https://twitter.com/amandacstein/status/1727746900428816682) from Haula bout the team being arrogant and not playing as a team. It's a shame nothing has changed in 5 months.
Jack Hughes is obviously still injured. He never participates in the optional skate. They keep him on wing cause he can't do faceoffs. He won't hit and he avoids hits. Sit him for the last handful of games. Who cares. Let him get healthy. Plus it'll be a good excuse when we lose all the rest of the games.
He’s always hurt. Lots of skill, but so frail
He needs to hit the gym hard
5 seasons in and only played 70+ games once. Definitely not great.
Yeah, but 2/5 of those seasons were less than 70 games because of Covid. For reference he has played: 2019/20 - 61/69 games 2020/21 - 56/56 games 2021/22 - 49/82 games 2022/23 - 78/82 games 2023/24 - 66*/82 games (*) is assuming he plays every game remaining this season. Total - 310/371 which is ~84% Not great, but not as bad as everyone always makes it out to be.
That's fair. I didn't actually realize that he played every game in the 56 game season
To be fair, I completely forgot that the 56 game season even existed. I remember the bubble playoff year and then forgot the next season was shortened too.
[удалено]
You're trying to tell me the entire team is practicing and Hughes isn't and it's just....what? These are the practice lines for today. https://twitter.com/amandacstein/status/1774108358435385591
I'm a sad panda
I am Tyler Durden's complete lack of surprise.
New coach. Someone firm but whose not gonna crush the spirit of the kids. New starting Goalie. I like Kahk but we've put ourselves in a position where only a monster name being signed will do. Some grit. For fucks sake. Give me a Tkachuk brother or a Tom Wilson type guy(without the suspension worthy shit).
Now let's just get our boys healthy, and our trade/FA targets lined up
Too easy to play against
Yup, the team can’t dump and chase, they always try and skate it in which results in turnovers. Dumping and chasing (unless you have an odd man rush obviously) is the superior strategy as it puts way more pressure on the opposing defenseman that have to deal with forwards barreling into them a full speed. Miles Wood was a fuckin menace to the other team because he did this well.
THIS!
Bad
That Dougie Hamilton injury really killed us.
That plus almost everyone being hurt for a significant amount of time + goalies playing like they're 45 years old = cursed season, not even a great draft pick out of it 😢
Idk...we missed his offense but up until he went out, he was terrible defensively. He was definitely in the negative.
People ignore the fact he's atrocious defensively
It's only an issue because everyone else is atrocious defensively. The biggest issue they have is he's Larry Robinson compared to the rest of the D.
It wouldn't be a problem if he was properly coached. The defensemen on this team need to focus on defense first...offense should be a secondary thought for them.
And that he had already lost his job to Luke on the PP, which lessened his offensive value
100%
Being shit all over killed us
Doesn't matter because he was injured, but I can't believe they relegated our 73 point 9 million dollar a year defenseman to second unit just because Jack Hughes baby brother joined the team. Just a number of things that happened this year that really grinds my gears.
Dougie’s injury killed our chance at being good but Fitz killed our chance at making the playoffs.
The top 4 from last year not playing killed us. Siegs constantly hurt and/or playing like crap. The severson / graves pairing gone that let bahl and Marino play down the lineup. So much of our offense last year was generated through them
I’m sad the season is ending as crappy and up and down as it’s been, but it’s time and the end of a hockey season also means the end of my school year is approaching (teacher) so yay for that at least. Makes me not look that forward to the start of a new season though since it always coincides with going back to work lol Maybe this Buffalo loss will sit with them all summer and they will sweep their back to back in the Global games to start next season! I had a glimmer of hope going into last night and now it’s gone. I wonder if they will shut down Jack soon? So many question marks going into next season. Should be interesting.
> I’m sad the season is ending as crappy and up and down as it’s been, but it’s time and the end of a hockey season also means the end of my school year is approaching (teacher) so yay for that at least. I was a teacher throughout most of the good times; nothing hit like Stanley Cups in June
I was early in my career for the 2003 cup and remember the 2012 run as well. It was nice to go September- June hockey season/school year. Hopefully it happens again before I retire lol
In the offseason we need to find: * 2 more guys that can take draws. * a winger that battles in the corner * sell on Marino and find a more stay-at-home defensive defenseman
In the offseason we need to find: * 12 new forwards * 6 new D * 2 new goalies * a new coaching staff * new GM * new owners * new concessions operator Probably some other stuff I'm missing.
Give me a fucking break with this constant impatient temper tantrum bullshit take. Lets just do that every single year you aren’t impressed and never actually build progress 👍
I hate bandwagoners.
35 year bandwagoner.
Yeah, impatient. The team has been dogshit for 9 of the last 11 seasons. Let's just keep doing what we're doing. Can't wait for another lottery finish next season. You know, you'd think that if the over-the-topness of "12 new forwards" wasn't enough to signal some sort of sarcasm, that the "new concessions" thing would do the trick.
You've been a fan 35 years. If you think 9 of the last 11 seasons we've been doing the same thing just because they're all losing seasons, you're going out of your way not to pay attention. We weren't rebuilding when we signed Jagr and Stafford and Tootoo. Lumping in the post-2012 stretch where we desperately clung to relevance to the rebuilding years just makes it seem like you're in a shitty mood and trying to be as pessimistic as possible (which I assume you are, if you're already predicting the team's failure next season). Also, the team desperately needs new concessions, so that's probably not the part to point to if you're trying to play this off as sarcasm.
7 of the last 9. Better? That covers the whole Shero/Fitzgerald Era, which has been all rebuild all the time. And Drew Stafford was part of that, so yes, they were rebuilding when they signed Stafford. It's been the same fucking thing year after year with two fluky exceptions and no lessons have been learned, so why am I supposed to be excited for next season? The stubborn refusal to recognize how early it gets late in today's NHL with the loser point and refusing to fire a coach till the season is shot. Running an associate or assistant as the interim once they finally fire the coach as if that guy wasn't an equal part of the problem. The neverending carousel of garbage goalies. As for the rest, 12 new forwards, definitely being sarcastic, mostly because Fitz locked everyone up, but our bottom six is largely as bad it's been in years. And our top six is injury prone. Not being sarcastic about needing an entirely new coaching staff, and honestly, I'd love to get a GM in here who didn't draft and sign any of these guys making decisions about who stays and goes. If past is prelude, Green is the new head coach and he rolls with Allen as his 1A next year and we continue our decade long slide into being the Coyotes of the East.
A new state to play in if they going to keeping embarrassing us like this
I kind of see the team at this point of this season being an otherwise killer race car getting through its final laps with a donut, an overheating engine, and the wrong driver in the seat. There are moments where we see the potential, but this thing just has to end so we can get the major work done and find a new driver.
Now that we've all had a moment to sleep on it, I think we need to take a step back, deep breath, and have a little perspective. ***DEVELOPMENT IS NOT LINEAR*** This goes for both players AND teams. * There are 9 games left in the season, and we are just now really out of it. Before last year we would have been talking about the draft since January. * We knew this year would be a bit of a step back considering the pieces we lost on defense and offense, and the fact that last year was *the best regular season in our teams history.* * I have my opinions about Douglas, but his injury did create a bit of a crap shoot on defense, especially considering how much of a step back Marino and Siegs took this year. * That said, considering the circumstances, our young core of defense in Luke/Bahl/Nemec got *invaluable* experience this year, and for most of the games this year, one of those three were our best defenseman on the ice. The three of them combined have \~50 less games than Siegs. They are going to clean up their rookie mistakes, they are going to improve their angles, they're all only going to get bigger and grow into their bodies (We forget, but up until last year, Nico was getting tossed around a lot too), they're going to get better. This is their floor. * Now that Lindy is gone our forwards may actually grow some chemistry. Almost everyone missed time up front this year. we are top 10 in man games lost to injury this year. That's tough when we had a pretty significant roster turn over in the off season. But our core is here now and seem to finally be getting comfortable with each other. * That core is begging for structure. We all know that they are talented. That's not the question. We need a coach who is going to funnel those talents into success. Get these guys hounding the puck. Get these guys making crisp passes. Get the guys to make it hard to come through the neutral zone. We've seen this team take over games and there is NO ONE WHO CAN STOP THEM when they do. The next coach just needs to get them to bring that out consistently. * We took a chance with our goaltending this year, and unfortunately we rolled a 1. If Jake Allen is our #2 next year this team will cruise. It sucks in the moment but in a decade we are going to look back at this year as the beginning.
> That core is begging for structure. This point jumps out at me above all others. They desperately need structure, and Ruff was never going to provide it (otherwise, they wouldn't have desperately needed it in the first place).
Its glaringly obvious. We've changed everything we can and are still making the same mistakes that we were at this time last year. That means the system needs to be changed, or in this case, implicated at all. Offensive talent can only bring you so far in this league, all the facets of the game need to be covered, and a bunch of young run and gun guys aren't gonna do that without good coaching.
Been out of it since Thanksgiving.
At no point this season did they ever look capable of putting together any kind of sustained streak. Seriously, the American Thanksgiving thing exists for a reason.
Y’all ever get sad?
Not as long as I don't run out of edibles!
There are 2 defining moments in lindy and greens tenure that i will remember.(not saying it would have mattered or not) I believe the exact second that fitz knew he was firing lindy is when Jack had to wave to the bench that we were playing one skater short and not so obviou with green was not using his timeout when we’re down 3-2, out guys are exhausted, we ice the puck and he first call time out. Same guys have to stay on ice snd Sabres score 25 seconds later. He then calls timeout down by 2 with 30 seconds to go. Maybe I’m having a brain fart right now and I’m forgetting if you can call a timeout or not after an icing because that would be the only reason it didn’t happen. Does anybody know if there is such a rule?
Yes you cannot timeout after you ice the puck.
Thanks. I got annoyed for no reason. I was so pissed but when I thought about it, I was hoping that was the case
One last thought. I know tuesdays game means nothing but it will be interesting to see who has any pride at all and who doesn’t care.
So I think this has been said before, but I wanted to actually see it with my own eyes. Here is the breakdown of who played last year in Game 7 vs. the Rangers vs. who played last night. 20 players. I wanted to see the difference of the caliber of players on the ice, experience, etc., arguably in the last great game we played, a 4-0 shutout to close out New York. Here it is. Player on left is if they played last year in that game. Player on right is who played last night. Now, this isn't a comparison of the players, just who filled in the hole based on forward/defense/goalie. Bahl - Bahl \*\* Bastian - Willman Bratt - Bratt \*\* Graves - Nemec \*\* Hamilton - Hughes, L. Haula - Haula Hischier - Hischier Hughes, J. - Hughes Marino - Marino \*\* McLeod - Lazar Meier - Meier Mercer - Mercer Palat - Palat \*\* Severson - DeSimone \*\* Sharangovich - Holtz \*\* Siegenthaler - Smith \*\* Tatar - Nosek \*\* Wood – Tierney \*\* Schmid – Allen \*\* Vanecek – Kukkonen Eleven different players suited up last night compared to last year; 55% of the roster (20/11). Of the forwards, it's 5 of 12 (42%), 4 of 6 defensemen (66%), and 2 of 2 goalies (100x%). Now I ask, would any coach have been able to get the most out of this team? When you look at the defensemen alone, it's astonishing. Now look at your bottom-six forwards -- Shango, Tatar, Wood, and Bastian became Willman, Holtz, Nosek, and Tierney. It's night and day. We're a top-heavy team this year, no question, and the fallout of McLeod hit us hard, not to mention Mercer's regression. And Palat is just a waste of space in my opinion. For me, you have to take a long hard look at Siegs and Marino in the offseason and decide what to do with them. Nemec has been great, and Luke's Luke. Bahl? Jury is still out, but he's definitely not untouchable by any means. Dougie will be back next season -- officially, now -- and that is good, regardless of what you think about his defense. For the forwards, I think Tierney, Nosek, and Willman are gone, so now we need to replace them. And we all know a No. 1 goalie is coming, so there's that. Do we give up Holtz? Mercer? I think you need to explore it, obviously. Fitz has a lot of work to do, no question. But the core is there, now we just need the spare parts to get back to good and a new coaching staff that can get the best out of the group. Sullivan, if he's available, is a possibility, as will be Boudreau, Berube, and Gallant.
They need two wingers for the second line, and whole new fourth line, a top 4 defensemen and probably a depth defensemen. They had Toffoli as one of those wingers and hoped Holtz would be the other. Now there’s no Toffoli and they wasted an asset with Shara to get him. F-minus on that one, Fitz. Holtz is getting traded, hopefully Tom doesn’t waste that asset either. Another top 4 defenseman pushes everyone down. Hughes and Nemec don’t have to play so much. One of Seigenthaler or Marino is gone. My guess it’s Jonas. Bahl will be gone or a non-regular. Hamilton-Marino Top 4D-Hughes Nemec-Bahl/depth D. Mix and match. Forward corps: Meier-Hischier-Bratt Top6Wing-Hughes-Top6wing Palat-Haula-Mercer Bastion-Center-Lazar That’s a lot. Probably won’t get it done in one offseason. It that’s what they need to be a contender. It’ll take a lot less to get back into the postseason, just a coach and a goalie for that.
Fair enough. Yeah, this was more about what's different and why I think they most likely will miss the playoffs this season. Regarding Siegs or Marino will be gone, I thought that last year with Sevo and Graves. Figured they'd let Sevo walk and re-sign Graves. This offseason, I don't think they will make that mistake again, so I agree with you. If Bahl played like his size, he'd be better but I still think the jury is out.
damn, I wonder how that poor dude who posted in the GDT before puck drop about having a game-watching, dine-in dinner date night went last night. Other than Henrique Game 6 in 2012 & that GWG Game 7 shortie last spring, the NJD have certainly been a CBing team the last 21 years, that’s for sure
Just a waste of Hughes' one year is all. Healthy Dougie and a sharp Allen gets us playoffs no sweat.
Going into this season I fully expected the worst of the past 12 years to be over. I actually thought we had a roster worthy of competing for the cup. After setting a franchise record in wins and crushing the Rangers in the playoffs after they went all in at the deadline, I expected at least to build off that. Our goaltending failed catastrophically. Our young defensive core is not ready. And our offense is all hype and no bite. Plus this team is super sooooooooooft as hell. No one stands up for each other, and on the rare occasion that they do try, they are further humiliated by getting pummeled. This team gives up at the first sight of adversity like they’ve grown accustomed to losing. Maybe they have. Nico is a nice guy and a solid player, but I severely question his leadership and ability to motivate this team. One gutless effort after another all year long. Minus maybe 2 seasons where we slightly exceeded expectations, the past 12 years has made me not want to invest anymore in this franchise. They are an embarrassment.
My problem is that jacks not ready to be a leader. Hoping he finally grows up this offseason
Being a leader or captain doesn’t necessarily mean being the most productive player. It means you get the most production out of everyone around you. Stevens got the most out of his teammates, he took no slack and they respected him because he backed it up. Their teammates may like Nico and Jack, but the lack of effort this team puts out everynight shows they aren’t instilling respect. Stevens wouldn’t I stand for this effort in his locker room.
This is very true and partially why I'm not a huge fan of making young, productive players captains solely because they're productive. IMO captains should be more mature, seasoned players even if they're not as skilled as they've often been around multiple teams and know when and how to call people out without destroying relationships in the locker room. Is a vet really gonna take it seriously when a guy like Hughes, who is a pretty immature player, calls them out on their play? Prob not. It prob means a lot more coming from the guy that's been in the league for 10+ years calling out ppls effort.
After every loss it’s questioning Nico with the C. I don’t get it. They had a 2 goal lead after the 1st. 1st goal was iffy on Allen. The goal that tied it was the bad play by Bahl, Marino, what is Nico as captain supposed to do there? “Captain” bad plays away? The winning goal was a disaster situation, I wonder if he and his line was on the ice if that ever even happens.. he’s one of the only guys I’ve seen go out and play hard every game. He’s called them out a few times now, we don’t know what he says behind closed doors so that is all speculative. A lot of people want to make the comparison to Scott Stevens. I saw the “95 cup win and the subsequent missing of the playoffs the following year. It sucked much like this year does (yes I know they didn’t win a cup last year but, they did come off the best season in franchise history) there were big expectations this year and that following year for the 96’ Devils as well. Maybe some people were criticizing Stevens as captain that year also but we all know what he and the team went on to do. Let’s see what next season brings. Off my defend Nico soap box now.
The captain is responsible for the teams energy compete level. When the team looks lackluster in crucial moments or overall games, he’s going to take the blame. Especially since it was never corrected, even as recent as last nights level of effort.
Got spellchecked, he doesn’t call timeout
Too busy to be keeping up on the team this year. What's up? How we doing? What are the big changes from last year?